ASSIST HEIDI Summer School 2025– International Summer School for Accessible Gaming
Find, adapt, create and play accessible games together with our co-designers with disability!
ASSIST HEIDI brings students and people with disabilities together, to co-design and prototype individual accessible gaming solutions with them. Students will learn the basics about disability, accessible gaming, rapid prototyping, programming and microcontrollers by hands-on project work.
See Fotos, Videos and Project Results of the Summer School below.
Do you have questions about the summer school and it’s results?
Please send an e-mail to studyathome@technikum-wien.at!
Facts
- 7.7.-15.7.2025
- UAS Technikum Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Accessible Gaming Project
- English courses
- Free of Charge
- Attendance Certificate (3 ECTS)
PDF : Assist Heidi Summer School 2025-flyer
© [@Anna Spindelndreier Fotografie] | Gesellschaftsbilder.de
Design by Shane Kartz licensed under Creative Commons (International License) Public Domain.
Documentation by Neil Squire / Makers Making Change.
Accessible Gaming Project
People with disabilities will talk about their gaming preferences and gaming accessibility issues. After introductory workshops, the students will work in teams on project topics about accessibility of games (board games, card games, computer games, …) and how to adapt them in order to make them accessible for various types of disability.
Finally, don’t forget to play and test the games!!
Target Group
- Graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in an international or national University.
- Students in medical technology, biomedical engineering, embedded systems, rehabilitation engineering, electrical engineering or computer sciences interested in Accessible Gaming and Assistive Technology.
Fees & Accommodation
FREE OF CHARGE – thanks to the funding of the City of Vienna, workshops, lecturers, welcome and cultural events are included.
Travel costs, public transport, accommodation, meals, personal expenses and other incidentals are not included.
It is recommended to take out an international travel insurance. Reasonably priced accommodation in Vienna, near the University, will be recommended.
Venue
Smart Living Lab at University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien
Höchstädtplatz 6
1200 Vienna
References
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The Summer School will be similar to the ASSIST HEIDI Summer School 2022, but dedicated to the topic of accessible gaming.
Please also take a look at the course ASSIST HEIDI, which covers similar topics and is held regularly at UAS Technikum Wien.
See also #assistheidi (linkedin).
Funding
The course is operated by the project Inclusion International funded by the City of Vienna (call nr. 33-02).
Guest Lecturers
Experts
Senior Web Accessibility Engineer, Accessible Gaming Expert, Machine Learning Engineer
Lecturer/Researcher in Biomedical Engineering, Rehabilitation Technology, Accessibility
Senior Lecturer/Researcher in AT, SW development, Digital Accessibility
Teacher in School for the Blind, Braille expert, AT for the Blind, IT
Results
The ASSIST HEIDI Summer School for Accessible Gaming was a successful event in July 2025 with 18 participants from seven countries in Europe, America and Asia.
The summer school started with guest lectures of national and international experts in the field of Accessible and Adaptive Gaming (Melanie Eilert, Mara Schulze (FJMK), Chris Veigl (FHTW)) and Accessible Game Engineering (Stefan Wilhelm, Inclusive Gaming Gmbh).
The mixed international student teams worked together with the co-designers on projects about accessible and adaptive gaming. They adapated both computer/console games and analogue games like Domino.
The project results including Fotos and Videos are described below.
Domino Game Adaption
The Dominos project adapted the game Domino for people with blindness by designing a board with elevated grid-based lines that allow to snap-in domino tiles. This way the stones can be touched to read the dots and the alignment of the stones by blind persons without destroying the layout.
Links
Special Gaming Controller
The JBMK project created a special controller for the Playstation 4, with low-force-activation buttons and with a customized layout of buttons and joysticks. The controller input emulation was realized with a Raspberry Pi Pico and the GP2040-CE gamepad firmware.
Links
Sturdy Gaming Wheel
The Wheely Wreckers project created a sturdy wheel for car racing games with a real car wheel and a very robust design for people with Cerebral Palsy and involuntary movement of the hands. The electronics and the controller input emulation were taken from a conventional computer game driving wheel.
Links
Gaming Setup for Zelda
The RAVCK project created a special gaming setup for the game Zelda on the Nintendo Switch using the Playstation Access Controller, external buttons and an external joystick which were combined to a single controller using the HID Remapper device.
Links
Program Details (Draft)
Please have a look at the detailed and up to date schedule in the Google Calendar (opens new window) or via iCal (opens download window).
Monday, July 7 | Tuesday, July 8 | Wednesday, July 9 | Thursday, July 10 | Friday, July 11 | Monday, July 14 | Tuesday, July 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8:45 Welcome, Intro | 8:45 Accessible Game Engineering Intro Co-Creation Guide Intro | 8:45 On-Demand: Rapid Prototyping | 8:45 On-Demand: Microcontroller mouse/keyboard emulation | 8:45 Project work | 8:45 Project work | 8:45 Playtesting invited PwD |
10:30 Break | 10:30 Break | 10:30 Break | 10:30 Break | 10:30 Break | 10:30 Break | 10:30 Break |
11:00 Accessible Gaming Intro | Team formation/Topic collection Project work | Project work | Project work | Project work | Project work | 11:00 Playtesting invited PwD |
12:00 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch | 12:30 Lunch |
13:00 Adaptive Gaming Intro | 13:30 Co-Design Session | Project work | 13:30 Co-Design Session | Project work + Networking | 13:30 Co-Design Session | 13:30 Project Presentations |
14:15 Break | 15:30 Break | 15:30 Break | 15:30 Break | 15:30 End | 15:30 Break | 15:30 Break |
14:30 Intro board games, Co-Designer, Topics | Project work | Project work | Project work | – | Mission Impossible Presentations | 16:00 Project Presentations |
17:00-20:00 Social Event | 17:00 End | 17:00 End | 17:00 End | – | 17:00 End | 17:30 Farewell Event |
Application
Application Deadline: 16.3.2025
The applicants will be selected by the following criteria:
- Motivation letter
- Date of application: First come, first serve